Money

tubaguy9 · Post by **tubaguy9** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 9:56 pm

I got a regular 4/4 tuba...CC...4 valve...Miraphone...well, I guess I mean to say OLD Miraphone (plays more like a 186...made in 1971) and got it for $2800. For the money, it's a REALLY good tuba...great sound, good lacquer job, still works wonderfully. But, that is, if you can find one...
I got this one, when I had the limit of $5,000...

Tubadork · Post by **Tubadork** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 3:41 am

FWIW,
Jake is a real high school student and a fine young player (not a tubenet troll) here in the Atlanta area. Rest assured he is asking a serious question.

If it helps at all, I bought my 1st horn (a yamaha 821 CC) in college {my junior year}. I put a down payment of about half and made payments on the rest. But, I didn't go to a high powered school for my undergrad. I know you would like to go to a big school, most of the advice here is good about saving money and what not, you can also check into Yamaha financing. It's pretty much a credit card with a fairly bad rate (somewhere in the 20%) but it seems like people get approved pretty easy and it is accepted in most of the stores that sell tubas.

I think the best thing to do would be to save up a little and look for a good deal on a used horn here on the tubenet, or a Dillon, Baltimore Brass, etc.. Let me know if I can help,

Bill

eupher61 · Post by **eupher61** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 10:36 pm

too bad there aren't more Dr Young tubas to sell...for scrap!

have you checked out the price of brass at a salvage yard lately?

JustinLerma · Post by **JustinLerma** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 4:53 pm

Some people are able to get the money funded through their college. Also, student loans are a possibility but the whole paying back thing SUCKS! Also you could finance a horn through the bank, once again the paying back thing sucks.

MaryAnn · Post by **MaryAnn** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 6:06 pm

My only comment is that it is unbelievable the instruments that some high schools have for the kids to play on. You repair guys, you know exactly what I'm talking about. The kid who is playing tuba in the orchestra that I used to play in, is using a school-owned BBb that looks like it got run over by a tank. Leadpipe squished almost flat in one place; I'm amazed he can even blow it, much less get it to sound like a tuba. Not much volume, but somehow I doubt that is his fault. And for a high school kid in a community orchestra, he does a good job, as good as or better than many of the adult amateurs who have honked on the tuba parts. I hope he goes on with it.

MA

tubaguy9 · Post by **tubaguy9** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 9:17 pm

MaryAnn wrote:My only comment is that it is unbelievable the instruments that some high schools have for the kids to play on. You repair guys, you know exactly what I'm talking about. The kid who is playing tuba in the orchestra that I used to play in, is using a school-owned BBb that looks like it got run over by a tank. Leadpipe squished almost flat in one place; I'm amazed he can even blow it, much less get it to sound like a tuba. Not much volume, but somehow I doubt that is his fault. And for a high school kid in a community orchestra, he does a good job, as good as or better than many of the adult amateurs who have honked on the tuba parts. I hope he goes on with it.

MA

With a decent horn, I bet that kid could be amazing...
Sort of reminds me...The director we used to have would have each instrument chem cleaned each year, along with having dents removed...Our horns don't look like crap.
I was just at an honor band, where one kid had a Yammie YBB-321, and the side accross from the bell was very dented up...I'll have to say, MOST of the time, the horn is sharp if the tuning slide all the way in, (unless it's a crappy instrument *cough, cough, Weril Bass Bone, cough, cough*) But almost all dents have some effect on the horn, including intonation (that kid's horn's intonation was flat, because of the dents...)

pulseczar · Post by **pulseczar** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 1:19 am

a 16 year old owning a something worth $10k+ and actually paying it off? That requires some serious focus and dedication.

If you're not willing to pull out a loan or getting a second job or going the extra mile, it's probably not worth it.

BUT, I really wish you the best luck. Hang in there, save some money and once college rolls around the corner, go for the student loans, and search Tubenet because financing has been discussed before.